Coach Ted talks about the freeing oneself from physical restrictions.
To Experience Freedom
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To Experience Freedom
Season 9/Episode 53
September 3, 2024
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Introduction
This is The Ted O'Neill Program, where we explore the science and philosophies for performance optimization, and the elevation of the human experience from the mind of Ted O'Neill, with Jon-Leon Guerrero.
0:21 Jon
Welcome to The Ted O'Neill Program. There's something to be said for the path of recovery from back weakness in a matter of weeks, not months. (Yeah) The reason for my training had changed, and what had happened was I came to you initially because I had a back that needed fixing, and then we got to work fixing it. And to say that we got to work fixing it belies the depth from which that deficit began. And then again, in weeks, not months, the reason for my training was no longer to fix my back. My back was that the fix was in the rearview mirror already, (right, yeah) and that I had reconnected with my identity as an athlete.
1:14 Ted
Well, that's really the extension in my mind of rehabilitative exercise. So there's tiers and there's levels to this, and I think most of the time, again, in the way that I view it, or in my opinion, I think that there's this slant on, like a rehabilitative training or exercise, or rehab in general, that implies something very, very different than the way I approach it. It's really to get someone back to where they were, or at least to some percentage of where they were, which, to me, is foundationally and fundamentally incorrect, because that previous state is where the problem started. (Yeah) So why on earth would we want to go back to that? (Right) And I get the element of wanting to be out of pain. But there's so much more to this, because when you can level up past not only where the problem is, but fundamentally change the structure from where you started prior to the bad experience of the injury or the back pain. You have to change that starting point. Otherwise, we're just going to go back through that same cycle. And you know, this is, I think, a lot of things in various fields whether it's medicine or recovery, kind of look at it as you know, just going through these repetitive cycles, (yeah) in part because they feed industry. I really have very little interest in doing that. For me, it's getting people into a totally different state. So, as you're mentioning fairly early on, all of a sudden, you're doing much more what would resemble athletic training. (Yes) But to me, in my notes, it was probably like, here we are. We're now on, you know, phase 2b of your rehab. (Yeah) And then as you reach this next level, we're on phase three. (Yeah) Where I look at this as building a buffer zone in relation to the original problem that is so great that you can't return to that original starting point, because you're no longer the same person in the same body. You're now fundamentally in a different body. And if you're in a different body, you're not going to have the same effects.
3:15 Jon
That weakness identified a vulnerability. And so, you know, I think what we're saying here is that most people, they just desire to get back to that spot where the vulnerability had been identified. (Right) And what's the point of that?
3:32 Ted
Well, I get it like, when someone's in kind of mind-numbing pain, or it's keeping them up at night, or they're now having to take medication, or pills for this, which obviously is the path to nowhere, because it doesn't, it doesn't change anything. It just changes your symptoms at the moment. So the next day, you can wake up and then take more medication.
3:49 Jon
Or your ability to perceive what's going on in your body, I mean, a lot of those medicine shots mask.
3:53 Ted
We talked about that recently, yes, you're masking the problem, so potentially creating more problems, not solutions. So I understand where people feel this desperation to get out of that state, but there's so much more behind this that can actually happen way faster if you take a totally different route. (Yeah) And like, in your case, you didn't present as someone who was doing rehabilitative exercise much past the first couple weeks. (Yeah) All of a sudden you were presenting as an athlete in training. And through that process, what did you end up doing, like, losing? Was it 85 pounds of body fat and gaining 20 something pounds of muscle over a period of time? (Yeah) So not only getting stronger and rehabbing the injury, but completely changing everything about your physical self, and then also by making all those changes, and having walked that path, you came out mentally and emotionally different as well. (Absolutely) That, to me, is the true nature of rehabilitative training, because it prevents you from going back to being the same person in the first place, where you would make the same decisions to go through those same pathways that end up in the same place of pain, and lack of mobility, and lack of strength, and lack of quality of life. And I think that's something that's hugely important in this, in this whole picture, is where is the quality of someone's life when they're in that, in that element of pain? So to me, it's an indisputable fact that someone who can present at a higher level physically is going to experience more freedom in their life. So think about that for a moment. If someone is in greater condition, they're going to experience more freedom than someone who is in less condition. (Yeah) And oftentimes, you know, I'll say that sometimes to be, somewhat contentious, to get someone's response, (sure) but if you look at it through the lens of what more things the person who's in greater physical condition can do in their body, that alone is, is the objective measure of greater freedom physically. (Yeah) And then, if you're talking about, you know, someone who's doing that, versus someone who's still in pain and taking medication and their life is totally disrupted, and it's pretty, it's pretty fundamentally obvious.
6:09 Jon
Well, an easy place to translate that to create clarity on the observation, before I go, before I say that, I don't want to lose the thought that, just in case there are listeners out there who don't train with us. I'm by no means alone. You know, when you mention these things, I think, yeah, that's true. I remember those things about myself, but a lot of that had to do with just the environment that you know, that I was in with my class, if I can call it that there. You know, those who have been training for around the same amount of time that I have, and we've all seen each other progress in, you know, varying ways and varying timings, but only slightly, because we've all had a trajectory that was pretty similar. But the easy place to put that when you say that somebody's physical ability creates more freedom in their life is just imagine if you are debilitated somehow, what kind of a vacation could you go on? If you could just take the lottery winning vacation? What would you do? You know, you'd probably go somewhere nice and sit around and relax, and that's nice too, but if you were in great physical shape, you would probably go somewhere nice and have experiences in that place that you otherwise would not be able to have because you could, you know, hike, Machu, Picchu, or…
7:48 Ted
That's the whole of it right there. Being able to have experiences that you otherwise would not have been able to have, that's a great marker for freedom. (yeah) Being able to do things that otherwise you would be eliminated from being able to experience that potential or possibility, so that's exactly what I'm getting at with that.
8:05 Jon
And that goes for vacations. It goes for how you enjoy relationships. It goes for professional successes, really, everything,
8:15 Ted
Everything, yeah. This is the thing when people are in constant pain or they're aware of some kind of physical limitation, or they're carrying a large amount of excess body fat, they're generally truncating their experience to match their condition. Whereas someone who is enjoying a lot of progress physically, and they're able to up level and they're able to get stronger and increase their mobility and their stamina, they're doing the exact opposite. Now they're seeking new experiences, new things that they're able to do, and that just gives so much more around the quality of life.
This is The Ted O'Neill Program, where we explore the science and philosophies for performance optimization, and the elevation of the human experience from the mind of Ted O'Neill, with Jon-Leon Guerrero.
0:21 Jon
Welcome to The Ted O'Neill Program. There's something to be said for the path of recovery from back weakness in a matter of weeks, not months. (Yeah) The reason for my training had changed, and what had happened was I came to you initially because I had a back that needed fixing, and then we got to work fixing it. And to say that we got to work fixing it belies the depth from which that deficit began. And then again, in weeks, not months, the reason for my training was no longer to fix my back. My back was that the fix was in the rearview mirror already, (right, yeah) and that I had reconnected with my identity as an athlete.
1:14 Ted
Well, that's really the extension in my mind of rehabilitative exercise. So there's tiers and there's levels to this, and I think most of the time, again, in the way that I view it, or in my opinion, I think that there's this slant on, like a rehabilitative training or exercise, or rehab in general, that implies something very, very different than the way I approach it. It's really to get someone back to where they were, or at least to some percentage of where they were, which, to me, is foundationally and fundamentally incorrect, because that previous state is where the problem started. (Yeah) So why on earth would we want to go back to that? (Right) And I get the element of wanting to be out of pain. But there's so much more to this, because when you can level up past not only where the problem is, but fundamentally change the structure from where you started prior to the bad experience of the injury or the back pain. You have to change that starting point. Otherwise, we're just going to go back through that same cycle. And you know, this is, I think, a lot of things in various fields whether it's medicine or recovery, kind of look at it as you know, just going through these repetitive cycles, (yeah) in part because they feed industry. I really have very little interest in doing that. For me, it's getting people into a totally different state. So, as you're mentioning fairly early on, all of a sudden, you're doing much more what would resemble athletic training. (Yes) But to me, in my notes, it was probably like, here we are. We're now on, you know, phase 2b of your rehab. (Yeah) And then as you reach this next level, we're on phase three. (Yeah) Where I look at this as building a buffer zone in relation to the original problem that is so great that you can't return to that original starting point, because you're no longer the same person in the same body. You're now fundamentally in a different body. And if you're in a different body, you're not going to have the same effects.
3:15 Jon
That weakness identified a vulnerability. And so, you know, I think what we're saying here is that most people, they just desire to get back to that spot where the vulnerability had been identified. (Right) And what's the point of that?
3:32 Ted
Well, I get it like, when someone's in kind of mind-numbing pain, or it's keeping them up at night, or they're now having to take medication, or pills for this, which obviously is the path to nowhere, because it doesn't, it doesn't change anything. It just changes your symptoms at the moment. So the next day, you can wake up and then take more medication.
3:49 Jon
Or your ability to perceive what's going on in your body, I mean, a lot of those medicine shots mask.
3:53 Ted
We talked about that recently, yes, you're masking the problem, so potentially creating more problems, not solutions. So I understand where people feel this desperation to get out of that state, but there's so much more behind this that can actually happen way faster if you take a totally different route. (Yeah) And like, in your case, you didn't present as someone who was doing rehabilitative exercise much past the first couple weeks. (Yeah) All of a sudden you were presenting as an athlete in training. And through that process, what did you end up doing, like, losing? Was it 85 pounds of body fat and gaining 20 something pounds of muscle over a period of time? (Yeah) So not only getting stronger and rehabbing the injury, but completely changing everything about your physical self, and then also by making all those changes, and having walked that path, you came out mentally and emotionally different as well. (Absolutely) That, to me, is the true nature of rehabilitative training, because it prevents you from going back to being the same person in the first place, where you would make the same decisions to go through those same pathways that end up in the same place of pain, and lack of mobility, and lack of strength, and lack of quality of life. And I think that's something that's hugely important in this, in this whole picture, is where is the quality of someone's life when they're in that, in that element of pain? So to me, it's an indisputable fact that someone who can present at a higher level physically is going to experience more freedom in their life. So think about that for a moment. If someone is in greater condition, they're going to experience more freedom than someone who is in less condition. (Yeah) And oftentimes, you know, I'll say that sometimes to be, somewhat contentious, to get someone's response, (sure) but if you look at it through the lens of what more things the person who's in greater physical condition can do in their body, that alone is, is the objective measure of greater freedom physically. (Yeah) And then, if you're talking about, you know, someone who's doing that, versus someone who's still in pain and taking medication and their life is totally disrupted, and it's pretty, it's pretty fundamentally obvious.
6:09 Jon
Well, an easy place to translate that to create clarity on the observation, before I go, before I say that, I don't want to lose the thought that, just in case there are listeners out there who don't train with us. I'm by no means alone. You know, when you mention these things, I think, yeah, that's true. I remember those things about myself, but a lot of that had to do with just the environment that you know, that I was in with my class, if I can call it that there. You know, those who have been training for around the same amount of time that I have, and we've all seen each other progress in, you know, varying ways and varying timings, but only slightly, because we've all had a trajectory that was pretty similar. But the easy place to put that when you say that somebody's physical ability creates more freedom in their life is just imagine if you are debilitated somehow, what kind of a vacation could you go on? If you could just take the lottery winning vacation? What would you do? You know, you'd probably go somewhere nice and sit around and relax, and that's nice too, but if you were in great physical shape, you would probably go somewhere nice and have experiences in that place that you otherwise would not be able to have because you could, you know, hike, Machu, Picchu, or…
7:48 Ted
That's the whole of it right there. Being able to have experiences that you otherwise would not have been able to have, that's a great marker for freedom. (yeah) Being able to do things that otherwise you would be eliminated from being able to experience that potential or possibility, so that's exactly what I'm getting at with that.
8:05 Jon
And that goes for vacations. It goes for how you enjoy relationships. It goes for professional successes, really, everything,
8:15 Ted
Everything, yeah. This is the thing when people are in constant pain or they're aware of some kind of physical limitation, or they're carrying a large amount of excess body fat, they're generally truncating their experience to match their condition. Whereas someone who is enjoying a lot of progress physically, and they're able to up level and they're able to get stronger and increase their mobility and their stamina, they're doing the exact opposite. Now they're seeking new experiences, new things that they're able to do, and that just gives so much more around the quality of life.
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